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Family fortunes Are you a first child, a middle child, the youngest, or an only child?

First-born children. If you are a first-born child, you are probably self-confident and a good leader - you came first, after all. You may also be bossy and even aggressive if you don't get what you want. You are ambitious, and good at communicating, because you learned to speak from your parents, not from brothers and sisters. On the other hand, you are the oldest and so you have to be the most responsible, and this can make you the kind of person who worries a lot.

Middle children are usually independent and competitive. You had to fight with your brothers and sisters to get what you wanted. You are also co-operative as you always had to negotiate with either your older or your younger brothers and sisters. You are 25 sociable, as you always had someone to play with. On the other hand, you may be jealous and insecure or moody if you felt that your parents preferred your older brother or sister.

Youngest children are often very charming. You learned very quickly that you could get exactly what you want by being charming - and this can make you manipulative. You are usually affectionate and relaxed because when you arrived your parents were more relaxed themselves. But you are often not very independent, as you always had so many people to help you. This makes it hard for you to take decisions. And you may be lazy, because your parents probably pushed you less and were less strict with you than with your older brothers and sisters.

Only children are often quite selfish. You had the wonderful luxury of not having to share your parents' attention with anybody else. In fact, you received so much attention as a child that you find it difficult to be interested in other people. On the other hand, you are usually organized and responsible, and often imaginative. But you may find it difficult to communicate with others, and are very sensitive to criticism.

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Sleep your way to the top

Improving your sleep quality you can improve your health, enhance your judgment, balance your mood, and even increase sensory perception.

When you first fall asleep, you enter the quiet sleep phase. This is when your body “let’s go”, your brain is at its most inactive and your heart and circulation are under less stress than when you’re awake. The first part of quiet sleep should only last a few minutes, if you are healthy. The second part follows in uninterrupted blocks of about 30 minutes. This is your deepest sleep of the night.

Delta sleep, also known as body sleep, comes in blocks of 1.5-2 hours, during which you swing from deep to light sleep (when you are most easily woken up).

It is the delta sleep phase that is crucial for physical activity. During deep delta sleep, an increased blood supply to the muscles repairs any damage you’ve done to your body during the day.

But the good news is, with one subsequent night of good sleep, your immune system can get right back in action.

REM (rapid eye-movement) is the period when you dream most vividly. This recurring period lasts about 30 minutes, and gets longer and closer together towards the end of the night. REM is known as brain sleep.

“How you feel and behave tomorrow depends on how you sleep tonight’, says Nigel Ball, the author of “The Sleep Solution”.

“You can control your sleep to improve your life”. Here is how to do it:

♦ Go to bed at least eight hours before you need to get up. Try to maintain that same bedtime for at least one week for maximum benefit.

♦ If you need an alarm clock to wake you up, you haven’t slept enough. But don’t lie in.

♦ Go to bed an additional 30 minutes earlier for the next week.

♦ Gradually add 15 to 30 minutes of sleep each week until you can wake easily without needing the alarm clock and still feel alert all day”.

♦ Stick to a sleep schedule.

♦ Once you’ve found your ideal bedtime stick to it every night, and wake up at the same time every day, even at weekends.

♦ Sleep without stopping.

♦ The best sleep is continuous sleep – in fact, six straight hours are better than eight broken hours.

♦ Play sleeps catch-up.

♦ If you have lost several hours of hours of sleep, you’ll need extra sleep (on top of your normal amount).

♦ Go to bed early for three nights rather than changing your normal waking time.

If you are the one who has problems sleeping, here’s how to get the sleep you need.

1. Our bodies were designed to move, so if you have a sedentary job, your instinct can kick in at night and make you feel restless. Exercise will give your body the chance to release excess adrenaline, for a better night’s sleep.

2. A warm bath is an effective therapy that can induce power sleep.

3. If you’ve been in bed for more than 30 minutes and haven’t fallen asleep, get up, do something calming until you feel sleepy again (no TV!) and then return to bed. If another 30 minutes pass without slumber, you are going to stay awake all night, lying in bed, staring at the ceiling.

4. “Sleeping pills are not a cure for insomnia, they merely mask the difficulty you have in sleeping”, says Nigel Ball. ‘They may hide the real reason for your problems and cause rebound insomnia, where you suffer even worse insomnia, when you stop taking the pills, than you had before”.

5. Alcohol damages the quality of sleep. To help you sleep, try chamomile tea instead.

6. Go to bed on an (almost) empty stomach.

7. A tranquil bedroom is a big step towards power sleep: clear out computers, TVs and keep the window open.

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